International campaigners urge UK to allow '3-parent' IVF babies

The process, still only at the research stage in Britain and the United States, involves intervening in the fertilisation process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. Britain last February set out draft legislation that, if passed, would make it the first country to allow the technique. In their letter, groups including the U.S.-based United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation and groups from France, Germany, Britain and Spain, described mitochondrial disease as "unimaginably cruel". The issue of mitochondrial donation has been scrutinised by several expert panels in Britain, including the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.



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